KOLDER
The children's art program has been a fixed and substantial part of the festival program of Into The Great Wide Open since its first year. It offers activities and workshops for children aged 0 to 14 years.
Kolder 2026: from order to chaos and back again
This year, the art program of Into The Great Wide Open revolves around the central theme of 'dis/order': about how chaos and disruption can make room for new ideas. This is also the guiding thread in the children's art program. A dozen artists and children's friends got to work with this and used disorder as fuel for their imagination.
The result? A magical factory in the woods of Vlieland, where the machines are running and the conveyor belt is going at full speed - but nobody knows what will come out. Here, children and adults play live Stratego together, you pay in 'flut' (worthless currency) and you wipe your bottom with art.
Central to the program is experiencing, wondering, discovering, imagining, researching, experimenting, making, and playing in the nature of Vlieland. There is plenty of room for experiential projects where the child can literally become part of a larger story: running a philosophical journal, for example, or crafting your own 'final boss' and defeating it. But artistic making, building, and creation projects also form an important part, in which different art disciplines connect with each other and make use of unusual materials. A constant factor in all projects is the relationship they establish with the immediate surroundings: the island of Vlieland and the festival itself.
In the composition of the annual program, collaboration takes place with creatives and (visual) artists who specialize or want to further develop in carrying out innovative children's art projects on location. When selecting the projects, attention is paid to strong design combined with a practical execution that aligns with the setting of the festival and the outdoor location.
